INSTITUTIONS WHICH

HAVE

CONTRIBUTED

THREE OR MORE ARTICLES TO THE PROCEEDINGS EACH YEAR.

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLES WHICH HAVE APPEARED IN THE FIRST THREE VOLUMES OF THE PROCEEDINGS.

Mathematics..

Astronomy..

Physics and engineering..

Chemistry...

Subject.

Agriculture...

Geology and paleontology, including oceanography, mineralogy, and petrology.

Botany..

Zoology..

Genetics.

Physiology and pathology.

Anthropology and psychology.

Total...

Articles by members.

Articles by nonmembers.

AUDITING COMMITTEE.

The president appointed an auditing committee consisting of C. G. Abbot (chairman), W. F. Durand, and A. L. Day.

ANNUAL TABLES OF CONSTANTS.

Considering the request of Mr. Julius Stieglitz, member for the United States of the International Commission on Annual Tables of Constants and Numerical Data, asking on behalf of the commisison for a continuation of the support of the academy in the publication

of the tables under the patronage of the International Association of Academies, the following grant was approved:

That a grant of $200, or such portion of it as may be approved by the president and foreign secretary, be made from the general funds of the academy as a subvention in support of the annual tables of constants published under the patronage of the International Association of Academies.

ENGINEERING SECTION.

The following minute from the council relating to the development of a section of engineering was approved:

It is the sense of the council that the home secretary be requested to obtain suggestions from members of the academy of names of engineers to be considered by the council for nomination at the next annual meeting.

CLASSIFICATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEN FOR WAR SERVICE.

Considering a communication from the American Association of University Professors, requesting cooperation in the classification of scientific men for war service, the following recommendations were adopted by the academy and forwarded to the Secretary of War:

The National Academy of Sciences, being convinced that such action is absolutely necessary for the successful prosecution of the war, urges that the privilege of enlistment granted to the medical profession, including students and internes, under orders of the War Department, office of the Surgeon General, dated September 4, 1917, if not already provided for by the intended interpretation of the new classification of drafted men, be expanded to embrace men in the following scientific professions, including junior, senior, and graduate students in educational or research institutions, so that all such men may be privileged to enroll in the appropriate reserve corps or in such branch of the service as in your judgment will enable them to make their special knowledge and training of greatest use to their country.

The academy recommends that, pending the working out of the details requisite for the establishment of these privileges, the pro

fessional men affected by the same be placed in Class III of the new classification of drafted men.

The purpose of the establishment of the academy by special act of Congress, as stated in its charter, was to create an organization whose duty it should be to advise the Government on scientific matters. It would be recreant to this duty, therefore, if it failed to point out the urgent need of the action recommended above, and to express its firm conviction that to win this war our scientifically trained men must be used to do the work which they alone can do. The inclusion of such men in Class I of the new draft classification would result in a wholly disproportionate loss of national efficiency in comparison with the size of the army so created. Of the many grievous losses sustained by our allies, the one felt most keenly, according to their own oft-repeated statements, is that of the scientific men who went to the front at the first call, and laid down their lives there.

These recommendations are prompted by the following further considerations:

1. The failure of many of the district boards created by the selective-draft legislation, to recognize the necessity of retaining these scientific men for the kind of work for which they have been especially trained.

2. The retention of many scientific men as privates in the training camps of the National Army, who it is believed could render much. more valuable service to their country if employed in the lines of their special profession.

3. The eager patriotism of our university men has led large numbers to enlist in the rank and file of our Army and Navy, and has correspondingly thinned the ranks of students, teachers, and investigators. There is immediate danger that without specific provision to the contrary, the universities will lack the teachers and students necessary to insure a steady flow of new effectives to the industrial and military fronts.

4. Many industrial establishments now of the utmost importance for the security and defense of our country are seriously impeded in their work by the fact that numbers of their highly trained scientists already have either been drafted or have volunteered for service and sought commissions for fear that they would be drafted and assigned to military duties of such a character as would not enable them to render to their country the greatest service of which they were capable. The result of this has been to reduce the working force of scientists in such establishments to the point where, unless further withdrawals are made with the greatest care, many of these plants will have to close their doors and go out of business.

It is respectfully urged that professional students be instructed to enlist in the appropriate reserve corps of the service, with the

privilege of furlough for the completion of their training, similar to that adopted to secure the most efficient service of the medical men, and that this opportunity be granted only to men of proven ability. Students, teachers, and research men should be given the opportunity of enlistment with the privilege of furlough or discharge subject to the recommendations of the presidents of the institutions concerned. For others, the decision should rest with the authorities designated by the Secretary of War.

In case the academy can be of assistance in working out any of the details involved in the foregoing recommendations, it will esteem it both an honor and a patriotic duty to cooperate with whomsoever you may designate.

ARTHUR L. DAY,

Home Secretary National Academy of Sciences,

DECEMBER 20, 1917.

Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, addressed to the Secretary of War and referred to this office, transmitting a communication from the committee of the National Academy of Sciences on the classification of men for war service, recommending that provision be made for the enlistment of certain classes of scientific students in appropriate reserve corps and suggesting the importance of this Government profiting by the mistakes made by our allies at the beginning of the war in failing adequately to provide for the conservation of their scientific knowledge.

The recommendations of your committee have been carefully considered, and we are in entire accord in the conviction that every practicable provision should be made by which the country will be assured of the maximum benefit of the scientific knowledge of its citizens, and through which advanced students in certain scientific courses may be enabled to complete their training, to the end that they may be more able to serve our country.

In fact, the wisdom of this selection and distribution of the young men of the Nation in the particular capacities for which they are best fitted was recognized by Congress in the enactment of the selective-service law. This law, as it is being administered under the regulations prescribed by the President, seeks to select those men for present military service who can be spared best from their civil capacities and by such selection to disturb as little as possible con sistent with the exigencies of the emergency the industrial, scientific, and economic interests of the Nation.

In this connection, and especially referring to the provisions which have been made for enabling young men pursuing special courses of scientific training to continue their studies, your attention is invited to the following excerpts from section 151 of the regulations as amended :

"(b) Under such regulations as the Surgeon General may prescribe and upon receiving permission from the Surgeon General to do so, any medical student, hospital intern, dentist, dental student, veterinarian, or veterinary student may enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps of the Medical Department, and thereafter upon presentation by the registrant to his local board of a certificate of a commissioned officer of the Medical Department of the Army that he has been so enlisted, such certificate shall be filed with the questionnaire and the registrant shall be placed in class V on the ground that he is in the military service of the United States.

“(d) Under such regulations as the Chief of Engineers may prescribe, a proportion of the students, as named by the school faculty, pursuing an engineering course in one of the approved technical engineering schools listed in the War Department may enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps of the Engineer Department and thereafter, upon presentation by the registrant to his local board of a certificate of enlistment, such certificate shall be filed with the questionnaire and the registrant shall be placed in class V on the ground that he is in the military service of the United States."

Even a cursory examination of these provisions will disclose their wide application. The heads of the Medical and Engineering Departments, two of the important scientific branches of the Military Establishment, have been given almost unlimited discretion in selecting and providing for the enlistment in the appropriate reserve corps of students in the sciences they represent. By granting this authority the principle of selective system is carried to its logical conclusion; and the officers particularly learned in special lines are enabled to apply their peculiar knowledge in formulating rules which, in their opinion, best subserve the scientific and military interests of the Nation. It will be noticed that in this way a large proportion of the classes of students mentioned in the communication from the committee of the National Academy of Sciences has been provided for in present regulations.

In considering the question of permitting students to pursue their studies to graduation, it should be remembered that a large per cent of the college and university students of the country are included within the draft age, and, in view of the present urgent need for young and healthy men for the Army, it manifestly would be unwise to accord to all students the privilege of completing their courses. Modern war can not be waged without large armies, and unfortunately large armies can not be raised without great hardship. The problem, therefore, reduces itself to a selection of certain classes of students pursuing courses of sciences deemed most essential to the fundamental needs of the Nation in the present emergency. This has been done, in so far as there are appropriate reserve corps available, and as the necessity for creating new reserve corps becomes apparent, the proper steps will be taken toward their organization.

Referring to the suggestion that many district boards have failed to recognize the necessity of leaving scientific men in the work for which they have been especially trained, and that many industrial establishments of the utmost importance to the security and defense of our country are being seriously embarrassed on that account, attention is respectfully invited to the new Selective Service Regulations. By these regulations, all registrants will be definitely classified within the next few months and ample provision has been made therein to insure that scientific men actively engaged in industries of the character mentioned above will be placed in a deferred class. (Secs. 81-85-88.)

It is, of course, evident that the selective-service law can not entirely prevent the loss to such industries of men who volunteer or seek commissions "for fear that they would be drafted and assigned to military duties of such a character as would not enable them to render to their country the greatest service of which they are capable." Just this situation has, however, been provided for so far as practicable (1) by removing the uneasiness of registrants by a definite classification; (2) by foreclosing the privilege of enlistment to registrants within a current quota of their local boards, and thus forcing them to submit to an orderly selection; and (3) by securing the necessary data in their questionnaires for enabling the Government when necessary to assign them to branches of the Army in which they are especially qualified to serve. In this